To Play a Game
by Dr. Dragon
Summary: Jaune falls in the battle of Haven. Now, he is stuck in a game with only one way out; win. Are the gods trying to help, or are they just trolling him? Who can say?


**Edit: It has been brought to my attention that there is already a gamer!Jaune fic titled 'The Games we Play'. I was genuinely unaware of this.**  
**This is the same Chapter with the title of the story changed. Sorry for any misunderstandings.**

**So, I know many of you who have read my previous works may be confused by my starting a new one. I am back from a long hiatus from writing FanFiction. I had to focus on getting my degree and then getting a job. Now I have found steady employment, I am planning on getting back into writing FanFiction. **

**All my current stories will likely be rewritten as I reacquaint myself with the source material. Whilst I enjoy my old stories and believe that a lot of the material will be recycled, I also feel that I have grown as a writer. Longer chapters, better structure, etc. **

**That said, I have a newfound love of RWBY lately and so decided to publish this as my first foray back into FanFiction. I hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own RWBY. It is owned by Rooster Teeth.**

* * *

**Prologue: The Game Begins - Chapter 1**

Jaune was thrown back across the floor of Haven's atrium. He knew that he wasn't a match for Cinder but he had to try. Even if all he could do was keep her busy, it would buy the others time to finish their fights. Yang had beaten Mercury before and surely Ruby was a match for Emerald. Weiss should have no trouble defeating some bandit thug.

Ren and Nora were fighting the large man who had arrived at the start of the confrontation. Worryingly, he seemed to be holding them off with relative ease. Qrow and Raven's fight was fast. It was hard to determine who was winning but Jaune remembered that Lionheart had said they were evenly matched. Speaking of Lionheart, he seemed to be getting knocked around by Oscar, or was it Ozpin? Ozcar? Whichever way, the 14-year-old was winning.

"I'm starting to remember you now" Cinder laughed as she gestured at him with her sword. "You're the dense one who can't tell when he's out of his league."

Pushing himself to his feet, Jaune rushed at her, swinging Crocea Mors' greatsword form down towards Cinder. She effortlessly blocked. They began trading blows again. Nothing he did could get through her guard.

He heard Ruby gasp nearby as shots began filling the hall. He didn't dare glance over at her.

"Why are you doing this?" Ruby asked. "Salem is…"

"I don't care about Salem…" Emerald's voice responded emotionally "…but I owe Cinder everything." The sound of gunshots stopped. "You want to fight her that bad, then be my guest."

A single bang sounded. Jaune knew that bang, it was Crescent Rose's sniper rifle going off.

Jaune skidded back from the latest exchange as a yell sounded. He glanced over instinctively. That was Weiss' voice. She was kneeling on the floor with the bandit she had been fighting standing in front of her.

He looked back to Cinder as she began talking. "Are you going to let her die too" she taunted.

He felt the sting of tears sliding down his face as he yelled at her "Stop messing with me!"

Cinder smirked. "If that's what you want" she said holding her sword before her. It erupted into flames. She brought it down to her side.

Suddenly she rushed him, practically flying above the floor. Jaune responded in kind holding his sword ready to swing. A voice sounded from the side. Ruby's voice. "No!" She yelled as white light filled the room. When the light faded, Cinder and Jaune had both stopped moving. Cinder gasped falling to her knees, grasping her left arm with her right. Jaune took the opportunity. He swung his sword. She looked up before he connected and tried to throw herself to the side, away from his swing. It was too late.

The light, which he assumed was Ruby's silver eyes at work, had left her unable to protect herself properly. Her aura flared briefly before breaking before his blade. It dug deeply into her neck before getting stuck. A look of shock briefly overtook her features before the momentum from her desperate, failed dodge moved her off the blade and onto the floor. Cinder Fall was dead.

A burning glow rose from her from and darted away. It flowed into Emerald. Jaune knew that glow. Memories of the fall of Beacon, of the last time he had seen Pyrrha moved through his mind. The fall maiden's powers had moved to a new host.

"Cinder" Emerald yelled, running towards him from where she was standing over Ruby's downed body. "_What happened there" _Jaune wondered. Emerald sled to a stop to kneel next to Cinder's body. Jaune backed off a step. He was torn. On the one hand, Emerald was definitely an enemy, on the other, she had just lost a… friend? Mentor? Lover? It felt like he should give her a moment.

Truth be told Jaune was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. He appreciated the chance to catch his breath.

Weiss had regained her feet but didn't look to be in good shape. Jaune started moving towards Weiss, not turning his back on Emerald but no longer facing her. She looked up before he moved more than three steps. Her eyes were overflowing with tears and filled with hate. Hate of him. She yelled as she pointed her weapons in his direction, firing at him blindly.

Jaune changed his blade back to shield form and blocked the shots. Some hit his legs but were blocked as he raised his aura, barely scratching his reserves though with how little remained, even that was dangerous. The bullets stopped. He lowered his shield. Emerald had vanished.

A gasp tore itself from his throat as pain lanced across his side. He turned his head as another blow struck him. There was nothing there. He was knocked backwards as a powerful blow hit him in the stomach. Emerald must have been using her semblance on him.

He backed away from where the hits had come from whilst he drew Crocea Mors in its longsword form and swung around him wildly, hoping to hit something he couldn't see. He felt his ankles hit something and he fell, hitting the floor.

His aura broke as he landed. His vision shifted slightly. Emerald stood before him pointing her weapon at his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Weiss hit the floor again, though she quickly pushed herself to her feet. Ruby was also standing up, having recovered from whatever knocked her over. She was looking at him in horror. He heard a shot as Emerald pulled the trigger. His last thought was "_I wish I had been able to do more."_

* * *

Jaune opened his eyes.

A white void spread before him. There were no defining features, no shapes, no landmass, no up or down. Nothing but the void.

"Where am I" he wondered.

"_**You are in a world between worlds" **_a musical voice spoke from behind Jaune. He turned and saw a pair of beings.

A golden figure, nine feet tall, vaguely humanoid in shape with the antlers of a stag rising from its head stood there.

Beside him stood a second figure. Slightly smaller, perhaps eight and a half feet instead of a full nine, purple rather than golden and with the horns of a ram spiralling from its head.

Neither being had a mouth, or a face for that matter but Jaune could tell the voice had come from the former entity. It spoke again _**"Your worlds are on the brink of a cataclysmic disaster. The relics are being gathered by one who seeks the destruction of everything. Should she gather them, all shall be lost."**_

"You're talking about Salem?" Jaune asked

"**Yes" **spoke the other, his voice harsher and deeper than that of his fellow. **"She had perverted much of what was left for you, twisted that to which she had no right into weapons. She will succeed, grasping an opportunity that my brother, so unwisely, left open for her."**

"_**When will you let this go brother?"**_ The golden one asked, his voice carrying a sigh-like quantity to it

"**You granted the witch immortality, brought the warrior back to life, both violations of your precious balance. You gifted the humans' pieces of divine power, without consulting me. Make no mistake, all the problems your precious humans face were caused by your own actions" **the purple one snarled.

"Wait, wait, wait" Jaune yelled, waving his arms. Both figures turned to him. He suddenly felt smaller than he had ever been in his life. "You know about the relics, you said you gave Salem immortality, who are you?"

"_**We are the brothers of Light and Darkness. We crafted your world" **_spoke the golden being, the god of Light, Jaune assumed.

"**And your species" **the other, the god of Darkness continued. **"And now, we have a proposition for you"**

"_**Indeed" **_spoke the god of Light. _**"Your world is but one of many possibilities. We want you to explore those possibilities, find the best outcome and return us to a perfect world."**_

Jaune stared at the god of Light in shock. He was one of the last people he would have asked to decide something this important. "Why me?" he asked.

"_**You were not my first choice, I admit." **_The god of Light spoke, as casually as if he were discussing the weather _**"Sadly, my brother feels that my preferred candidate, your friend Ruby Rose, would be unsuitable for the purpose. Her eyes draw their power from me and as such, she is incapable of accessing some paths that my brother believes are essential to this mission"**_

"**I have told you before brother. When it comes to conflict, I am more capable than you." **There was a tone of pride in the god of Darkness' voice.** "It's all well and good telling our perspective champion to pick a world, but in order to make one suitable, he must triumph over our previous mistake. The alterations we made to his soul's resonance will help on that front but to truly defeat an enemy you must know them, not just their tactics, but their motivation, their history, their beliefs. Whilst Ruby Rose is a powerful warrior for her age, with potential to become greater still, she would not be able to follow any path that takes her towards Salem's side or the sides of her agents"**

Jaune blinked. Surely, he had misheard. "You want me to join Salem?" he asked aghast.

"_**There are many paths that must be travelled. Some will be easier than others, but all must be explored to find what we truly need." **_The god of Light spoke without remorse, or disdain. Jaune realised that the god of Light had shown barely any emotion throughout the entire conversation.

Jaune swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment, steeling his resolve, before opening them to look at the gods. "Okay, so you send me back to my world, I help finish things, and then what? How do I enter new worlds?"

"_**You are not returning to your world" **_the god of light spoke dispassionately. _**"You fell in the battle of Haven academy. You have been dead for much longer than you believe. Salem succeeded in collecting the relics and our local variances destroyed your world when we were summoned."**_

"What?" Jaune asked, taking a step back in disbelief. "My world? What happened to my friends?"

"_**Unimportant." **_The god of Light replied_** "They are one copy of those who exist thousands upon thousands of times across thousands and thousands of worlds. You will see them again. I suggest you get started." **_The golden god flared suddenly in a burst of light. When it faded, he was gone.

"**You'll have to forgive my brother." **The god of darkness spoke, and edge of amusement in his voice. **"Emotions align more closely with my domain of Destruction; they are fiery and impermanent things. He has never truly understood the bonds you humans have with each other. He doesn't mean to be cruel. Your friends fought on after you fell at Haven. With Emerald Sustrai distracted by Cinder's death, Yang Xialong was able to defeat Mercury Black in combat, rendering him unconscious. Hazel Reinhart was distracted by Ozma's reveal and whilst they were fighting, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren were able to assist Weiss Schnee in driving Vernal Branwen off temporarily. They, along with Ruby Rose and Yang Xialong were able to then best Emerald Sustrai who was as yet unused to the powers of a maiden. She was defeated and was about to be captured when Vernal Branwen returned to the fray and, in a betrayal, slew her. Vernal Branwen, being quite literally the last thing Emerald Sustrai saw, inherited the powers of the fall maiden and, along with her mentor Raven Branwen, fled back through one of the latter's portals. Hazel Reinhart and Leonardo Lionheart fled in the aftermath, once it became clear that they would be unable to claim the relic of knowledge at that time."**

Jaune smiled slightly. "We won then?" he asked, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders.

"**That battle, yes" **the god of Darkness emphasised. **"The war, no. I won't share all the details, they will be revealed in your explorations, but suffice to say, your friends face Salem and failed. The fault was not theirs. There were several factors hey were unaware of, and without the relic of knowledge there was no way for them to find that information. With them bested, Salem was able to focus her full efforts upon claiming the relics. It took years more to find another puppet to use as a maiden but she succeeded eventually. As gods, myself and my brother exist in all possibilities of your reality simultaneously and when our local counterparts were summoned to your world, they judged mankind and found them wanting, and as agreed destroyed them and the world."**

Jaune was silent for a moment. He let it all sink in. They had lost. Ozpin's plan, whatever it had been had failed. _"They may be gone, but I'm still here. I am going to do everything I can to stop it from happening to any other world". _He had to try. "How do I do this?" he asked the god of Darkness. "How do I choose a world?"

Jaune got a feeling of intense amusement from the being before him. **"You have always best learnt through action. I will let you figure it out. Good luck Jaune Arc." **Jaune realised that that had been the first time either of the gods had said his name as the god of Darkness pulsed before erupting in a wave of shadow. Suddenly Jaune was falling.

* * *

Jaune didn't know how long he had been falling. It could have been seconds; it could have been aeons. He did know when he stopped. It wasn't so much hitting something as it was suddenly going from motion to stillness. He stood before a set of doors. The doors were huge, yet he could somehow see every inch of them. On the door was a list that read:

Max Str: 50

Max Dex: 50

Max End: 50

Max Cont: 50

Max Int: 50

Max Wis: 50

Those were game stats, weren't they? How high was 50? What did it mean by Max? Was this how he was meant to explore the worlds? As a game?

Below the first was a second longer list. Most of the items were greyed out. Three could be seen sitting at the top. They read:

Longsword - Legendary: 0

Shield - Legendary: 0

Greatsword - Legendary: 0

Those were the weapons that he had used. Crocea Mors' two forms. Sword and Shield and Greatsword. He had no idea what Legendary meant though.

He touched the doors and they shone a familiar white, the colour of his aura, before they swung open. He stepped through. The doors swung shut behind him.

Two doors now stood before him. On the left was a door with the name Jaune upon it. On the right was a door with the name Joan. Between them, glowing in the light of his aura were the words:

**Choose your Gender. Some routes will be gender specific. Some backstories will be gender specific.**

Jaune blinked. Did this mean what he thought it meant. Was this, he assumed game, asking whether he wanted to be a boy or girl in the first world he explored? He turned to the doors named Jaune. Better safe than sorry. He would stick with what he knew.

Upon touching the door marked 'Jaune' it swung open and the other disappeared. He stepped through and found himself in a new room. Three door snow stood before him. Each had a different word. Between the leftmost door and the centre door, and again between the centre door and the rightmost door were the words:

**Choose your Species. Some routes will be species specific. Some backstories will be species specific.**

The doors were emblazoned with the words 'Human', 'Faunus' and 'Shadow Spawn'. Standing to the left of each door was a statue. The one beside the door marked 'Human' was, essentially, a replica of what he had looked like at Beacon. It was also the only statue currently in colour, the others being greyed out. The one next to the door marked 'Faunus' was wearing armour which looked more leather than metal. It also had animalistic features which appeared to be everchanging. Feline ears to a canine tail, to whiskers, to fangs and claws, to striped skin, and on and on it went. The final statue was beside the door marked "Shadow Spawn" and looked a lot like Jaune, if he had veins visible against his skin. His lower half appeared more fluid than expected and, whilst they were greyed out, he somehow knew that his eyes were burning crimson.

He approached the door marked 'Faunus' and touched it experimentally. Did this mean he could be a faunus? How would that work. Upon making contact with the door, the writing upon it changed. It now said:

**Locked. To reach complete one of the following:**

**Mission: Peace in our time**

**Mission: All shall fear me and rejoice**

Jaune blinked and stepped back. A few seconds after his hand left the door, the words shifted back to saying 'Faunus' again. He had no idea what these missions were going to be, but he guesses they had something to do with the faunus if they were a pre=requisite to being one. He glanced over at the 'Shadow Spawn' door. No, he decided. He wasn't interested in knowing what sort of mission would make him look like a grimm. He turned and approached the door marked 'Human'. He touched it and stepped through once it opened.

He was now upon a large floor which had a map of Remnant printed upon it. Most of the map was greyed out. The only spot which wasn't was a small patch on Sanus which corresponded to a place he knew quite well. Approaching it, he saw it was labelled appropriately as 'Ansel'. He touched it. There was a creaking sound as the floor split open, leaving him falling into a corridor.

The corridor had a door facing him, with a row of statues flowing out to both the left and the right of it. The statues were of everyone he had met in his journey, allies and enemies alike. Right next to the door was a statue of Ruby. He approached it and reached out to touch it. Writing appeared on the wall next to it.

**Locked.**

**To unlock Level 1 complete Achievement: Red like roses**

**To unlock level 2 complete Achievement: A rose by any other name**

Unlike the previous doors, the pre-requisites were shining. Intrigued, Jaune tapped the writing labelled 'Red like roses' causing new writing to appear underneath the old. It said:

**Red like roses - Romance Ruby Rose**

Jaune froze. There had been times on the journey through Anima to Mistral that he had thought he had picked up something between him and Ruby but he hadn't been sure if he was imagining things and, to be honest, he wasn't ready to start anything so soon after Pyrrha had died. With a small feeling of dread, he tapped the writing 'A rose by any other name'. Once again new writing appeared, replacing the description of 'Red like roses.' It read:

**A rose by any other name - Complete mission 'A world lit up in Silver' at Max affection with Ruby Rose**

Jaune tried tapping the mission, but nothing happened. He took a look further down the corridor in both directions. None of the statues were in colour. He assumed that this meant all were locked to him currently. He turned, opened the door by touching it and stepped through.

All went dark.

* * *

**So how was it? I'll be honest, Jaune is one of my favourite characters in RWBY. Second only to Ruby herself. I also feel that he may have the most untapped potential.**

**This shows one instance when a slightly different movement, a swing instead of a stab may have changed things dramatically. The maiden powers entering Emerald. Let's be honest, how many people does Cinder actually know? Added to that, that she likely will want to spite her killers by keeping the powers in Salem's service, I felt that this was likely to occur in these circumstances. The power then being stolen by Vernal; we know that it isn't unusual for the powers of a maiden to pass to their killer and do you really think Raven would turn down a chance to gain power like that?**

**I called Vernal a Branwen because as far as I know and as far as this story is concerned, it's a tribal name as opposed to a family one. All of the bandits are Branwen's, at least those born in the tribe.**

**The god of Light not understanding Emotion very well. That's artistic licence taken from Season 6 Episode 3: The Lost Fable where the god seems generally surprised, at least to me, that Ozma didn't initially want to return to Remnant, nor that he expected Ozma and Salem to be able to find happiness, no matter how temporary it turned out to be. The god of Darkness blaming the god of Light on the other hand, that's my interpretation of events. I may be slightly biased however. My opinions of the gods may have been coloured slightly by 'White Sheep' by the excellent 'Coeur Al'Aran' (praise be to him). If you haven't read his works, I urge you to so immediately. He is, in my opinion the best RWBY writer on the site. The gods in general using full names is intentional and is meant to indicate their alien thought process. They aren't human (or faunus), their minds work differently to us.**

**Unlike many Gamer! Stories, the mechanics are going to be ones which encourage multiple playthroughs. I freely admit that I got the idea of statues from a Harry Potter gamer fic I read years ago. I can't remember the name, but it was enjoyable. You will find out how all the mechanics work in due time. I will say this though. You hopefully won't have to scroll through pages and pages of skills and stats in every chapter. I will keep a tally of the skills he is currently focusing on at the bottom of each chapter, but the only time it will appear in the story will be when he improves it. I will also post a full list of skills he currently has at the beginning of each route. **

**I also won't be creating random magic attacks for him to play with. He can use and improve his aura as it is used by everyone, he can increase his skill with dust (when he bothers to pick some up. I don't think canon Jaune ever used it) and he can improve his skill with his canon semblance when he eventually unlocks it (he died here before he used it). It might evolve when the show makes clear what 'evolving your semblance' means, but no guarantees. That's it except for some… unique routes, I don't know when it will happen but keep in mind the implication of a female Jaune/Joan and what they might be able to have that standard Jaune won't.**

**Finally, I am creating a poll to decide what Route to start Jaune on. There are three currently that I believe I can make work as an intro to the game system. A Pyrrha, Ruby or Blake route. Pyrrha would be easiest in some regards but all are doable. I will get through all 3 in time though. That said, the first route is likely to be amongst the shortest one. I don't intend for it to go past the end of Beacon and may end before that, if things go poorly for Jaune. This will be a long-term project, though I plan for only 3 or 4 chapters in the Prologue. Except bumbling around the basic mechanics and also his first death. The first route will lead into quest mechanics and social mechanics. I have the system all planned out already. To be frank, it is essentially an RPG game I would definitely play if something like it ever came out (if I had any knowledge or skill at game design, I might have given it a go). I hope you all enjoy.**

**See you next time.**

**Edit - FanFiction is refusing to update when I use any of my regular line breaks so I had to use their horizontal lines and when I add new text, it moves off**

**the edge of the screen unless I go to a new line. ****Can anyone tell me how to get it to work as I want it to?**


End file.
